More winter havoc: Storm paralyzes much of South, East

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[h=4]More winter havoc: Storm paralyzes much of South, East[/h]The federal government shut its doors, hundreds of flights were canceled, roads were impassable and schools were closed Tuesday due to the nation's latest blast of winter.

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A powerful winter storm has left a trail of ice, outages and flight cancellations across the South. The same system will dump even more snow on the winter-weary Northeast.


Chris Huebner shovels snow from his driveway in Bethesda, Md.(Photo: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY)


ARLINGTON, Va. -- The federal government shut its doors, more than a thousand flights were canceled, roads were impassable and schools were closed Tuesday as the nation's latest blast of winter gave New England a break but roared through much of the Midwest, South and East.
More than a foot of snow fell in parts of Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky and West Virginia. Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina were among states where sleet and freezing rain made travel treacherous.

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A significant winter storm has put Washington, D.C. on ice and closed government offices on Tuesday. The storm is expected to keep heading north. (Feb. 17) AP

Airlines had grounded more than 1,400 flights by early Tuesday — more than 5,700 flights have been grounded nationwide since Sunday due to back-to-back winter storms.
Several locations across the South were encrusted in at least 1/2 inch of ice, the National Weather Service said. Due to the ice, more than 200,000 customers are without power in Arkansas, Georgia and the Carolinas, AccuWeather reports.
Washington, D.C., and its environs were hit with 4 to 8 inches of snow, enough to shut down federal offices in the region. North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia were among states that declared a state of emergency, citing rapidly deteriorating road conditions.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency called on the Tennessee National Guard for aid and sending assistance to several counties where interstate crashes occurred. Icy road conditions and crashes resulted in a 12-mile backup on I-40 late Monday, TEMA said.
Tragedy struck in Franklin, Tenn., when a mother and son were hit by a truck and killed after they got out of their car to aid people trapped in an SUV that flipped on the icy roadway, police said.
USA TODAY
Nationally, it's been one of the warmest winters on record



In Virginia, Gov. Terry McAuliffe warned residents to stay off the roads an placed the National Guard on standby.
"This storm could bring difficult travel and widespread power outages for the next few days," McAuliffe said in a statement. "Please postpone travel during the storm, charge up your mobile devices so you can stay in touch and take time to check on your neighbors in case they need help."
In North Carolina, Charlotte-Douglas International Airport officials said more than 2000 passengers spent the night in the terminal; cots, mats, pillows and blankets were distributed, and some airport concessions extended hours to accommodate the stranded travelers.
In Mount Carbon, W.Va., a train carrying scores of crude oil tankers derailed in the storm, sending a fireball into the sky and starting a fire that burned for several hours.
The mountains of West Virginia and Kentucky had the biggest snow totals from the snowstorm, according to the weather service. The small town of Logan, W. Va., picked up 15 inches, while in Kentucky, the towns of Beattyville, Estill and Pikeville all had 14 inches.
Still, as Tuesday progressed, signs of hope emerged, Louisville emergency management official Matt Goins said.
"The roads are in really good shape, considering where we were yesterday at this time," Goins said.
The storms came as record cold also swept the region. Monday saw records fall in several cities: Erie, Pa., dropped to minus-18 degrees, tying the city's all-time record low temperature, according to the National Weather Service. Cleveland's minus-8 degree reading broke a daily record low previously set in 1904.
Daily record lows were also tied or broken in Detroit, Baltimore, Syracuse, Toledo, Trenton, N.J., and Wilmington, Del., the Weather Channel reported.
Boston fell to minus-3 degrees, its coldest reading since January 2004, while Philadelphia bottomed out at 3 degrees, its coldest since January 2005, meteorologist Matt Lanza reported.
Contributing: Doyle Rice, Ben Mutzabaugh, USA TODAY; Tony Gonzalez, The (Nashville) Tenneseean; WCNC-TV, Charlotte; Charlie White and Joseph Gerth, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal
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